The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1887-02-26
AN INFERENCE OF IMMORTALITY

AN INFERENCE OF IMMORTALITY.
In one of the recently published SER
mons Of SUMNER ELLIS, there is fine
argument reared for Immortality, on
the basis of mans capacity for educa-
ton; his power to advance from him
self and to grow out of himself, the
original gift conferred on man by his
Creator, and suggesting another life for
its development. The thought is not,
of course, original; but it has seldom
been better developed than in this SER
mon on differences based on Gift and
Growth" DR.. Ellis remarks "We
there touch one of the many arguments
THAT seem to stand mistaken, as yet,
against the evolution or Darwinian
"theory of the descent of man. In
"man's capacity for education, we seem
ito see an original gift and not an in
"herited one, for we see nothing like it
Sin any lower race. Until we
leone up to our own race Wa find no
Improvements being sought for, and
mo progress made from any self
prompting. Here man seems a
"being by himself, inspired by gifts
peculiarly his own. The chasm is too
wide, and the missing links are too
"many between him and the brute to
''admit of CHASING them in the same
"order." From this point the preacher
builds up his argument for immortal
ity. Mans capacity for education is
not exhausted in this world, his growth
is not complete, and "since nature
makes beginnings only for ends, his in
completeness here becomes the sign of
his continuance in another era"
This prominence Of man over the
brute order, and this faculty of inven-
ton, growth and progress which is
prominently his and his alone, justi-
fies the grand inference of the preacher,
and reveals the possibility of a higher
destiny, when all these wonderful capac-
tiles will have scope for development.
We may here introduce a paragraph
from sermon of DR.. Ellis on kindred
theme, and omitted from the volume of
his discourses. The thought of the
preacher is again with nature and the
pre-eminence she grants to man in the
respect suggested. "No ANIMAL writes
DIR. Ellis, "has shown capacity or desire
to rise from its own level, which is the
level it's ancestors have occupied from
the earliest times. 1t never puts aside
more childish past, nor aspires to a
greater future. Showing nothing of the
art Of progress toward higher state,
it carries none Of the prophecy which
belongs to boundless capacity and aspir-
alton. The old is still the new in the
life of bird and beast. The robin in
the treetop and the eagle on the cliff
build their nests precisely as in the
most ancient times and a thousand
years hence there will be no added
beauty or convenience to home or dwell
ing -place. But how has man lifted his
mud-hut or cabin into a palace; and
yet he is not content The bird creates
no new music. For decades Of centur-
les the sparrow, so far as we know, has
chirped its old melody. The same hap
py tune that the English lark poured
into the ear of Alfred or Chaucer, as it
rose in the morning sky, it now sings
for Victoria and Tennyson. The mod
ern linnet is the linnet of Spencer's
poem. But, meanwhile, man has crea-
ted vast music, and made it resonant
with the joys of this life and the hopes
of another. No animal has ever invent
ed the rudest device; but man has filed
the earth with his skillful inventions,
and the patent offices of all the foremost
lands are busy filing his caveats to Sc
cure some fresh scheme of use or beauty.
But to all this he has added a literature,
an art, a commerce, laws and religion.
From the material man thus ascends to
the spiritual. 1t is in the direct line of
reason to believe that another life will
grant all possible opportunity for this
development and progress"